04/10/2004: "Miracle of the Holy Fire"

Enough insanity for a couple of days. This is the weekend of the Resurrection of the Lord, the ultimate reason why the Church exists. So for today and Easter Sunday, only edifying stuff.

To start, this from OrthodoxyToday.com. The story of the Miracle of the Holy Fire is largely unknown in Western Christianity, but is a fascinating story. Here's a taste:

"On Holy Saturday believers gather in great crowds in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. For on this day fire comes down from Heaven and puts fire on lamps in the Church." Thus one reads in one of the many Easter itineraries to the Holy Land.

"The Miracle of the Holy Fire" by Christians from the Orthodox Churches is known as "The greatest of all Christian miracles". It takes place every single year, on the same time, in the same manner, and on the same spot. No other miracle is known to occur so regularly and for such an extensive period of time; one can read about it in sources as old as from the eighth Century AD. The miracle happens in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, to millions of believers the holiest place on earth. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre itself is an enigmatic place. Theologians, historians and archaeologists consider the church to contain both Golgatha, the little hill on which Jesus Christ was crucified, as well as the "new tomb" close to Golgatha that received his dead body, as one reads in the Gospels. It is on this same spot that Christians believe he rose from the dead.

Is it real? Is it really a miracle? Read the whole story, and you be the judge.